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Summer Read-a-Thon: Staff Picks

Lending Library at the Center for Teaching in 2080 University Capitol Centre

The Center for Teaching lending library has a wide variety of books, teaching & learning journals, and DVDs on various teaching topics.

The Center for Teaching staff members have put together a list of recommended books available for checkout in the Center's lending library. Stock up your summer reading list. Try something new. Branch out with one of these fabulous reads on teaching and learning to get you inspired, refreshed and invigorated, for the Fall semester.

If you are interested in research-based principles of learning that help instructors better understand which teaching approaches most support student learning, this book is for you. The book includes strategies to improve teaching methods, student learning, and skills that can apply transfer across courses and disciplines.

This handbook provides numerous examples of classroom assessment techniques that instructors can use to get both formative and summative feedback about student learning throughout the semester, instead of just at midterm and final exam periods. The book provides a guide for creating an assessment plan as well as 50 tried-and-true assessment techniques that can be used across disciplines. If you need new ideas for classroom activities and help designing assessments, check out this book.

Bain, Ken. What the Best College Teachers Do (2004).

In this book, Bain engages in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) to discover what is required for excellence in college teaching. This book is full of both anecdotes and examples of excellent teaching as well as answers to many common teaching questions from the experts themselves. This is an enjoyable read and you will appreciate the practical tips and different perspectives.

Bok, Derek. Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should be Learning More (2006).

If you have been following the debates about what higher education is supposed to be, you will find this book quite informative. Former Harvard President Derek Bok uses a research-based approach to deconstruct the current academic system in the US. His book examines what we really know and don’t know about how much students are learning, and explores the value and purpose of undergraduate education in the 21st century. Bok presents a critique of the current system, but also provides possible solutions to help students accomplish more and institutions to foster success in teaching and learning.

Lee, Virginia. Ed. Teaching and Learning Through Inquiry: A Guidebook for Institutions and Instructors(2004).

This book both defines the abstract term “inquiry-guided learning,”(IGL) and provides thirteen examples of using an IGL approach in different disciplines and at varying academic levels. Each chapter is written by an instructor who has redesigned a course to put IGL at the center of learning. Chapters provide a wealth of tips and strategies for successfully incorporating IGL and examples of what has and has not worked.

Light, Gregory and Marina Micari. Making Scientists: Six Principles for Effective College Teaching (2013).

This book describes Northwestern University’s Gateway Science Workshop designed to increase success and retention in lower level STEM classes. Perhaps the best aspect of the book for faculty is that each chapter concludes with suggestions for practice that faculty and departments can implement in their own courses.

If you want to learn how to make truly interesting, well-designed presentations for your teaching and for conferences, this book will help you see presentations in a new light. The book itself is artfully designed and visually appealing, and the tips and strategies within will help you deliver fresh, provocative presentations that will keep your audiences engaged.

In this book Staley helps college instructors design, implement, and assess active-learning strategies that are particularly useful for first-year college students. The majority of the book is dedicated to lesson plans for activities that can be directly used in many introductory classes to stimulate discussion, critical thinking, communication skills, and cooperative learning. Examples include activities that can be used across disciplines, and also discipline-specific exercises. Read this book if you would like to refresh your classroom activities and provide a fresh spark for your students.

Svinicki, Marilla and Wilbert J. McKeachie. Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers, 13th ed. (2011).

This book is essentially a textbook for effective college teaching. It covers course preparation, the first days of class, facilitating student learning, effective lecturing, creating and grading assessments, and understanding and dealing with students. It also addresses active learning strategies, using technology in teaching, tips for different sizes and kinds of classes, teaching critical thinking, and developing a reflexive teaching practice. This can be read cover to cover, or just start with a chapter on a topic you are interested in learning more about.

Zakaria, Fareed. In Defense of a Liberal Education (2015).

Zakaria critiques the commonly-held notion that the path to success lies only in STEM fields. He expounds upon the virtues of a liberal arts education as the key to life skills such as creativity, communication, storytelling, and, most importantly, a lifetime love of learning. This book will inspire you to re-examine the value of the arts and humanities in the college curriculum as it demonstrates the extrinsic and intrinsic rewards of a liberal arts education.